Friday, November 11, 2005

The courage to walk away...

Death by Medicaid…A bitch is trying to come to terms with the fact that Missouri’s Governor gave a Medicaid transportation contract to some company in Georgia, folks have been left stranded and now a man may have died because no one came to pick him up. Death by Medicaid…or murdered by the state of Missouri? Jesus to Gawd, it makes me want to fucking throw up!

The courage to walk away...On this Veteran’s Day a bitch would like to discuss the courage it takes to walk away when your ass knows you can't do the job. This bitch has had to do it...a bitch walked away from many a relationship when my ass realized my involvement wasn't helping matters. It takes courage to walk away...sometimes more courage than it takes to stay.

My ass grew up with two parents who came of age during the Vietnam War. My father never fought in Vietnam, but many of his friends did. My mother had been engaged to a small town boy, but broke off her engagement when he shipped off to Vietnam…she, like many young women, didn’t want to bury a fiancé. She married my father and her former fiancé made it back home…lives forever changed by a war so far away.

Which brings me to that courage thing, walking away and LBJ. This bitch has long been fascinated by the two faces of President Johnson. LBJ is both lauded for his civil rights record in the 1960’s and hated for his escalation despite clear evidence of defeat in Vietnam.

In this time of war and on this Veteran’s day, a bitch is thinking about LBJ and his address to the nation March 31, 1968. He gave a long speech that included plans to reduce hostilities and reengage in peace talks with then North Vietnam. Halfway through the speech, which you can read here, LBJ seems to be wrapping up a political package…like he’s drafting a status memo to the new guy who’s talking over his cube and his job.

He finishes his speech with…

“With America's sons in the fields far away, with America's future under challenge right here at home, with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office--the Presidency of your country.

Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.

But let men everywhere know, however, that a strong, a confident, and a vigilant America stands ready tonight to seek an honorable peace--and stands ready tonight to defend an honored cause--whatever the price, whatever the burden, whatever the sacrifice that duty may require.

Thank you for listening.

Good night and God bless all of you.”

He was still holding to the hope that Vietnam could end with honor, that our nation’s youth had not been sent to die for nothing and that we all could escape from the vat of quicksand that was the Vietnam War, clean ourselves off and have an amazing story to tell.

Most people latch on to that theme…a bitch is more moved by his other words. To me, LBJ knew the war had to end and he knew he couldn’t end it.

Courage takes many forms. Battlefields are not limited to distant lands. And sometimes the honorable thing to do is step down and let someone else take the lead…